Tennis Tips

Here is a list of questions that I have responded to from my web site. I hope you find some of them useful. If you have any questions yourself please email me and I will do my best to answer them.

Q: Single handed back hand. How can I make it consistent?
Ken,

A: There are two things that you can do that will improve consistency right away.
1. Keep your left hand on the throat of the racket until you are ready to release into the shot. This will increase support and help you set the racket face angle every time. This also takes the strain off of your shoulder and gives you a reference point for every back swing. It also keeps your hitting arm from floating around while you are preparing for the shot.
2. Shorten your swing. Smaller swing means larger margin for error.

And of course keep your eye on the ball. These are a couple of quick fix ideas
for you. If you are still having trouble after trying these let me know and I
will do my best to answer. Thanks again for writing and Good Luck!

Q: I have hard time changing my grip from semi-western to backhand grip which causes me to hit late or no drive shot off the backhand.
Thanks,

Shailesh

A: There are a couple things you can do to help with
your grip change.

1. After hitting your forehand let the throat of the racket rest in your left
hand. Thumb on top side of the throat, bottom three fingers on the bottom of the
throat and your index finger on the strings. Now, instead of trying to change
your grip with your right hand, use your left hand to rotate the racket until you
have the correct grip. This way you won't be spinning the racket or guessing. Use
your left hand to find the grip by turning the racket in your hand.

2. Watch the direction of your opponent's racket face so you can anticipate where
the shot is coming and have more time to prepare your grip.

Let me know if this helps and if you have any more questions please feel free to
ask. Thank you again for writing and Good Luck!

Q: Hello Clint,
I just received your DVD and book. I've read the book and am going to watch the DVD this afternoon. I'm playing tomorrow so I hope to be able to implement some of your techniques.

My question is, I just moved to Tucson, AZ from Ohio. I'm looking for an
instructor in the area. Do you have any suggestions? My skill level is 3.5-4.0
and would like to improve: consistency, serve and aggressive play (at the right
time). I'm looking for someone who will be tough and make me improve.
Thanks so much,
Shelly

A: Hello Shelly,

Thank you for purchasing the book and DVD. Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the Tucson area who is currently teaching. However, make sure when you are trying out a new pro that you tell them exactly what you want. You are the paying costumer. If you want to learn semi-western forehands with an open stance then a pro that is worth his weight should be able to teach you this. I would suggest finding a pro that is young and aggressive and not afraid to put the time in to show you modern tennis. Remember; donít be afraid to tell them what you want. For $60-$90 per hour they should be able to teach you. Good Luck!

Clint

Q: How can I crush my forehand like the pros, and like you do, Iím looking at
your pro mo, LIKE YOUR STYLE!

Mike

A: The best way to crush your forehand is to practice crushing it! There are a few fundamentals that will help you do this i.e. Semi-western grip, open stance. This will give you the necessary racket face angle and topspin to keep the ball in the court while hitting the ball as hard as you want to. I hope the book and DVD help you with this and if you have any questions after watching the video please feel free to write and I will try to answer as best I can. And remember the best way to play the way you want to, is practice hitting the ball the way you want to. Good Luck!

Q: I am a lefty with a two handed backhand but hit with one hand on the
volley. I don't know why but my first instinct on the backhand volley is to drop my racquet head and slice instead of punching forward. As you can imagine I hit a lot of volleys short or into the net instead of sticking them.

Thank you,

David,

A. This is a problem that can be easily fixed. The problem is not with your arm or hands; it is with your feet. When you speak of punching forward on the volley I am assuming you are punching forward with your arm or hand. The problem with this is your arms can only reach so far and every inch they go away from your body or core you loose strength and the racket naturally wants to dip or slice down. To fix this keep your arm bent and close to your side and punch forward with your body and not your arm. Do this by pushing off of your back foot. You will find as you move forward it is very difficult to actually drop the racket face. Your instinct is to keep your racket head up while you are moving forward at the net. Also this will put your body weight behind the volley which means less swing and more control. This also applies to low balls. You always want to be pushing off your back foot and moving forward on your volleys. The best way to see this is by watching how far the pros move forward with every volley, and also how they move forward while hitting the volley. I also cover this in my DVD and there is a good slow motion example of pushing off the back leg. Let me know how this goes. Good Luck!

Clint

Q: How do I return fast serves?

Joan

A: There are lots of things you can do to help you return fast serves so I'll give you a few and you can choose what works best for you.

1. Shorten your backswing
2. Widen your stance or rather widen your split step.
3. Stand further back when returning a first serve and move forward during the
return to get your body weight behind the shot.
4. Try to read the serve and anticipate where it is going so you have more time
to prepare. Some things to watch for are placement patterns, pre-serve routines,
and racket face angle at the point of contact.

I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any more questions. Good Luck!

Clint

Q: How tight should the grip be at the time I contact the ball?

Thank you,
Francisco

A: If your grip is to tight the ball won't go anywhere and if its to loose your racket will fall out of your hand. The best thing to do is keep your wrist and hand loose during preparation of the shot and "Squeeze into the contact point". There is no cut and dry way to do it. When you hear commentators talking about someone having "great hands" this is what they are talking about. Some people have it naturally and others like me have to work at it. So you'll have to play around with it until you get the result you are looking for. Sometimes you'll have to squeeze harder than others depending on what kind of shot you need to hit. So not to tight and not to loose but rather feel your way through the tightening process until you discover what each shot requires. I know it might sound overwhelming but after awhile your instincts will take over and do it naturally. I wish you the best of luck and would love to know how it works out for you. Also if I'm not mistaken I think I remember your name on one of my orders and was wondering how the instruction on the DVD worked for you and what you thought of the information. Thank you.

Clint

Q: I just started playing tennis and i started out really good. After the
first couple days of practice I've started having trouble hitting the ball when
it comes straight at me, and I'm having trouble not hitting the ball to hard, and hitting it out of the court. What good techniques can I practice to get my hits back in shape again?

Lauren

A: It sounds like everything has gone crazy! The best thing you can do is to find a partner who is consistent and can hit the ball to you and keep a rally going to you can get a lot of practice in. The ball machine would be a great idea. Hit as many ball as you can and when you hit one that feels right and you get the result you desire try and duplicate it. Also if you are looking to improve your game and find some techniques that work better for you I have just published a book and instructional DVD and there is also a website called www.hi-techtennis.com that I would highly recommend. Once you get your game back on track and you have any specific questions about one of your shots (or all of
them) let me know and I'll try and answer as best I can. Good Luck! I look forward to hearing from you.

okay, so i have single handed backhand. i can't get it down. i think it may have to be my grip. what kind of grip would be best suited for topspin on the backhand? i rarely do any slice and mainly keep to topspin during play.

one hand backhand

Originally Posted by GiganteMax

okay, so i have single handed backhand. i can't get it down. i think it may have to be my grip. what kind of grip would be best suited for topspin on the backhand? i rarely do any slice and mainly keep to topspin during play.

Hello GiganteMax,

This is a tough question without seeing your backhand to know if it is your grip thats the problem. However if you are sticking to topspin and would like a solid feel I would suggest turning your grip more towards you. Meaning if you hold the racket straight in front of you with the strings facing out, grab the grip like you would if you were riding a bike and turn your hand slightly toward you. If you are hitting the ball in front of your body this will help ensure that the racket face is squared up to the ball as you are brushing up for topspin creating a stable environment for the ball on your strings.

Some other things you may want to try for consistency are:

1: Keeping your left hand on the throat of the racket longer until you are ready to release into the shot. This will help you with stabilizing your racket and giving you a reference point for each swing.
2: Taking your racket back at the same level of the aproaching ball so you are not brushing across the ball but rather brushing up as you are making contact with the ball.
3: And last but not least Bend your knees and drive up into the shot!
4: One other thing if you do not have a loop you may want to implement a small loop on the back swing to help with your timing.

My Tennis Guru DVD has a section on the one hand backhand that you might want to check out also www.hi-techtennis.com has lots of good video clips of pro's with one handers. It never hurts to watch and see what works for others. I hope this helps. I look forward to hearing from you.

i've been experiementing with a two-handed backhand and it seems to be more consistent than my one handed, however its not getting the power i can get on my one handed. what can i do to increase power on my backhand?

i've been experiementing with a two-handed backhand and it seems to be more consistent than my one handed, however its not getting the power i can get on my one handed. what can i do to increase power on my backhand?

Yo Yo Yo GiganteMax,

Listen up Dawg, its like this, when you can't find the power on your two hander here are some classic fixes.

1. Stepping to far across your body with your front leg can impede your swing and limit your rotation. Try and step straight towards the net instead of across your body. This can really free up your body movement and keep yourself out of the way of yourself.

3. Wait longer for the ball to get to you. Since you are switching from a one hand to a two hand backhand you'll have to adjust your hitting zone a bit. You really don't have the range of motion to hit out in front of you with two hands. And if you are hitting out in front of you body with a two hander that means you have already swung and can't possibly be using your body to hit the ball. So wait longer almost until the ball gets to the side of you before you make contact. Also having two arms out in front of your body before contact can really throw off your balance.

thanks for the tips. i tried it out today and it worked out well. i'm getting good power on my backhand but it still needs a little work. but, its nothing that good practice won't get rid off. thanks again.

thanks for the tips. i tried it out today and it worked out well. i'm getting good power on my backhand but it still needs a little work. but, its nothing that good practice won't get rid off. thanks again.

I have been playing for many years [since 4 or 5, now in 40's]. I took a long layoff and am back trying to play at least twice a week, when I can.

I need help on consistency, I have good strokes, but consistency is killing me, I am wondering if I have inadvertently lenghtened my backswing [which has always been long] and I know footwork is an issue [being in shape].

The people I can find to hit with at my club are truly 2.5 to 3.0 players, according to written NTRP descriptions I am a 4 to 4.5 player, but winning is limited due to consistency.

Books, DVDs, instruction, drills to help?

In tennis the addict moves about a hard rectangle and seeks to ambush a fuzzy ball with a modified snow-shoe. Elliot Chaze

oh sorry i haven't responded in a while, these forumns should give notifications when someone quotes or responds to threads! its been a while but i'm sticking to my 2 handed backhand. it has good power and decent direction. practicing it everyday so it gets better little by little. thanks for all the help!

these forumns should give notifications when someone quotes or responds to threads

That can be done There are several ways to do so.

When you post a new thread or reply to an existing thread, there is a pull-down menu titled 'Thread Subscription" below the text entry box and below the 'submit reply' and 'preview post' buttons - in the Additional Options section. From the thread subscription pull-down menu you can select to receive email notifications.

A way to set that up automatically would be on the edit options page of your user control panel. In the Messaging & Notification section of that page there is a pull-down menu in the sub-section titled Default Thread Subscription Mode. Whatever option you select there will apply to all threads that you post messages to.

There is also another way to receive email notifications of new posts, for threads that you participated in or even in threads where you have not posted messages. That option is the "Subscribe to this Thread" feature in the Thread Tools menu (at the top of all threads).

I have email notifications turned off by default just so members do not become overloaded with emails from TW. Although, it is quite useful and can be turned on very easily as I described.